How to patch a 3 inch hole in drywall?

[dean]

1. Cut out another piece and stick it in, and fill up the edge crack?

1. Cover it with gauze and then fill from there.

Any tips welcome. I have a few to do!

Thanks

Dean

[Joseph Meehan]

There are a number of ways.

I suggest cutting a new piece of drywall or wood that is thinner than the hole and maybe 4 inches longer.

put a screw or something to hold onto in the middle of it. Stick it through the hole so it is totally on the other side and you are holding it against the back of the wall. Have someone use a couple of drywall screws to screw the drywall that is there to the board. above and below the current hole. Now cut a new piece of drywall to fit the hole. Attach it to the board and then finish the patch with tape and compound as usual.

[zxcvbob]

Cut a piece of cardboard a little bigger than the hole. Punch a little hole in the middle and tie a string to it. Put it behind the hole and use the string to pull it up tight so it doesn't fall. Use plaster of paris to fill in most of the hole. You might want to do it in two batches; go around the just the edge at first to stick the cardboard, then fill the center. Leave the surface rough and less than flush with the rest of the wall. When the plaster is dry you can level and smooth it with drywall mud.

You can do the whole thing with drywall mud, but filling most of it with plaster of paris first is faster.

Best regards, Bob

[Gideon]

Dean,

Any chance that you folks are punching holes in the walls with doorknobs? If so, buy some baseboard "bumpers" for the doors before making your repairs.

One good repair method involves cutting an oversized patch from scrap drywall. In your situation with a 3" hole, the patch should be about 7" in diameter. In the center of that patch, draw a 3" circle on the back side and carefully cut as deep as you can around that circle without cutting through the front paper. Remove the disk of material, leaving a 3" plug of drywall whose front paper covering has a 2" lip all the way around. The rest should be obvious.

A second good method involves a simple 3" plug of drywall material. Before installing the plug, put a piece of wood (eg: 3/4" x 1/4" x 6") inside the hole and attach it to the back of the hole with drywall screws - one on either side of the hole. So, looking at the hole you would see the hole with a drywall screw head countersunk in the wall just an inch or so to the left and to the right of the hole. And inside the hole you would see the piece of wood which will stop the plug from dropping behind the wall. When you insert the plug, you can attach it to the piece of wood with 1 or 2 countersunk drywall screws.

You can also check at your local hardware stores for products designed for repairing drywall holes.

Good luck, Gideon

1. Cover it with gauze and then fill from there.

Any tips welcome. I have a few to do!

Thanks

Dean

[c_kubie]

I've seen home improvement shows

1)cut a larger square (inch extra on each side).

2) Score 1" in in on each side on the back.

3) remove the 1" of gypsim from the back, so you have a 1" paper border on each side.

1. Then use the 1" on each side as if it is the drywall tape and mud all the way around.

Never tried this method but it looks slick. I usually use either 5 layers of mud till the hole is filled or your method.

c_kubie

[longshot]

square off the hole to make it easier to patch, cut a piece of scrap wood...

3/4"pine of plywood or whatever, it needs to be long enough to span the whole plus a couple inches on each side. place it in the whole & screwed through the existing drywall into it on both sides. put patch in & screw it to scrap wood. use drywall tape & mud as needed.

[Steve Manes]

Take a wood paint stirrer. Cut it about 6" wider that the hole. Drive a drywall screw into the center. Put a dollup of instant glue or quick-set construction adhesive on each end. Slip the stirrer into the hole, pulling on the screw till the glue sets. Cut a piece of sheetrock to fit into the hole. Use instant glue to fasten it to the wood stirrer. Then tape and mud.

Steve Manes Brooklyn, NY

[dean]

Thanks all - the replies are all great! I appreciate them all.

I want to ask though: when you say "Tape and mud", doesn't the tape stick out by its thickness, thereby preventing you from getting a nice flat join?

Dean

[dean]

Yep - the previous house owner was a bit of a door knob nightmare!

[Heathcliff]

Yes, the tape and the mud are on top of the wallboard, so it's not perfectly flat. Done well, spreading the slope very gradually over a wide area, it can be quite inconspicuous, and basically it will not be noticed. Especially with flat paint. One must resist the impulse to look for the lump, or to point it out to visitors!

Another option is to put a wood rosette or some such over the hole, which would cover the hole and serve as a striker for the doorknob. I have seen that in some places, although I haven't tried it myself. I suppose you could just glue the sucker on.

[Grandpa Koca]

Oh man, use these:

[tnom]

Take popsicle sticks and glue them with rubber cement on the inside of the wall. If you want to fill the hole completely with this method then you should use a pin to stab and position the last stick.

[Bob]

When putting a |"backer" into the hole - whether wallboard or wood - Apply white glue to the part of it that will touch the current wallboard. Then either screw it together or just "tie" it somehow so it stays in the right place until it dries. Then put glue on the back of the hole filling patch material. If you have a tight connection between the patch and the hole edge, squirting white glue into the joint will bond the two very well.

Bob

[Bob]

In my experience, If you squirt white glue into the crack between the patch and the hole edge, with a close fit, the tape will not be needed. (after proper drying time) FWIW.

[Jimmie]

Out of desperation to patch a hole I used some floor leveling compund. Used several applications to build up from the edge of the hole allowing to dry between layers. Finished with spackling once the hole was filled These were large holes and it took a couple of days and several applications to fill them. Worked great

[barry]

Works great for me. Just be sure to not separate the overhanging flap of paper from the gypsum, _and_ to "butter" well the exposed edge of the patch before inserting. So there's no hidden gap.

Of course, it can simplify things to open the hole so that a patch can be made to fit pretty closely.

Some people call this a "blowout" patch.

John

[zxcvbob]

That's why I use plaster of paris instead of "mud" for the bulk of the patch -- it's a lot stronger than mud and it doesn't shrink, so no tape is necessary. Use mud for the final skim coat so you can sand it easier.

Best regards, Bob